Sunday, December 15, 2013

[1791 - Three-fourths of the states having ratified the ten Articles, the Bill of Rights
is adopted, amending the US Constitution]

    
[1832 - Gustave Alexandre Eiffel, engineer, designer, born in Dijon, Cote-d'Or, France]

       
[1890 - Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull and eleven others die during his attempted arrest near Grand River, South Dakota]

      
[1892 - J. (Jean) Paul Getty, oil magnate, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota]

   
[1904 - Kermit Bloomgarden, Tony Award-winning producer, born in Brooklyn]

    
[1912 - Stan (Stanley Newcomb) Kenton, orchestra leader, jazz pianist, born in Wichita, Kansas]

      
[1918 - Jeff Chandler (Ira Grossel), actor, born in Brooklyn]

      
[1922 - Alan (Albert James) Freed, Rock & Roll disc jockey, born in Windber, Pennsylvania]

     
[1928 - Friedrich Hundertwasser (Stowasser), artist, architect, painter, ecologist, born in Vienna]

[1961 - Adolf Eichmann is sentenced to death by an Israeli Jerusalem court]

To Horace, To Horace!

The Bush-Cheney administration and its seven years of horribly costly and stupidly prosecuted wars validated the words of the poet Horace, written in 23 B.C.:

Force without wisdom falls of its own weight.

It remains to be seen if President Obama, with better advice and a more reasoned and honest approach, can avoid his predecessor's history of terrible bungling. His initial decision to double-down in Afghanistan did not auger well. While his subsequent decision to withdraw US forces by end 2014 is clearly a move in the right direction, why in the world should we spend another day there now that we killed bin Laden?

William's Whimsical Words:

Wisdom requires (at minimum) a sound plan for those conditions which follow the application of force, and a valid, speedy exit strategy.

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